How To Write Good SEO Tour Descriptions

by Kira HarrisNovember 17, 2016

Writing a good SEO tour description not only increases the chances that a customer will buy your product, but also that your customers will be able to find your product. Proper SEO in your tour descriptions will help search engines understand what the content is about. When someone is searching for “ghost tours in Pawnee”, the search engine knows which sites to list that specifically offer “ghost tours in Pawnee”.

Pick a Consistent Tone and Voice for Your Tour Descriptions

Before you write any tour descriptions, consider your audience. Are they young, mature, families, or hard-core adventure seekers?

Also consider the type of tour it is and its appeal. Is the tour educational (history, art), nature driven, adventurous, or spooky – like a ghost tour?

Your target market will respond differently to your descriptions. The tone you pick is not what you say, it’s how you say it. It’s the personality behind your company. Depending on how you answered the first two questions, the tour descriptions will fall between the scale of formal and informal. The tone of voice behind your company may have a “California surfer dude” appeal, a “whimsical and artsy” sense of humour, or a “spooky, doomsday” tone that attracts customers looking for an eerie experience.

An example of a more formal tone of voice. “We are launching a new ghost tour of the castles of Pawnee.”

A more informal tone. “We are so excited to offer a new spooky tour of the most haunted castles of Pawnee.”

Using Keywords to SEO Your Tour Descriptions

Still, before you start writing your amazing tour descriptions, consider SEO practises. There’s no need to buckle down and become a SEO guru, but knowing a few tips and tricks will go a long way.

Have a list of several keywords that you’ll want in your descriptions (and site content) before you start writing. These are the words that your customer will use to search for a specific type of tour online. Such as tour, activity, or adventure. Your keywords should also include the name of your city and the type of tour – water, mountain, art, culture, nature, etc. Add your keywords to your heading and photo tags as well.

If you need more suggestions for finding good keywords, try Google Trends or search “free keyword tool” and try those. If you type “Ghost Tours” into Google Trends, you’ll see a 3 year graph that spikes every October (It seems people like ghost tours the most around Halloween. Go figure!). It also displayed relevant queries and topics that may give you ideas about what customers are searching for.

Describe the tours Experience, Not just the Tour Details

Your customers are looking for an experience. Travellers are looking to fulfill their dreams. Evoke your prospective customer’s senses by describing the sights, smells, and sounds of the tours. What will they see? What story is there to tell?

Descriptive tour details will also set you apart from the rest. Most tour companies just provide the basic information – if that. But think about it, your customers are buying an intangible product. This requires trust between them and your business. If you were buying a high ticketed or important item without seeing it first, you’d want all the information you could get.

Here’s two tour description samples to compare.

Dull Tour Description

“Pawnee’s 2 hour ghost tour takes you from Town Hall to the historic Turnbill mansion, haunted by the original owner Nick Newport Sr. to the old Wamapoke hunting and burial grounds and finally to the historic Pier Pub.”

Engaging Tour Description

“Uncover the sordid truths behind Pawnee’s dark history of gruesome crimes and tragic accidents. We depart from City Hall for our 2 hour Pawnee ghost tour once the sun has set (8pm), where you can hear the hair-raising whispers of the dead Town Crier. Wind down dark, cobblestone alleyways filled with souls of the lost and forgotten. At the Turnbill mansion, the vile old Nick Newport Sr. haunts the grounds. Watch your step as you approach the ancient Wamapoke burial grounds of bloody battles and disease. Finally, end the sinister adventure at the historic Pier Pub – where you’ll be thankful to be among the living again. We can’t promise everyone will return…”

The second sample description engages the reader’s emotions and explains the details of the tour by highlighting the benefits of exploring a spookier side of the town and feeling a rush of fear. These same tactics can be applied to any kind of tour.

Some customers are looking for specifics and want to be able to scan for key points. Despite putting effort into your tour descriptions, it’s smart to also include a bulleted list of the main details.

Runs every evening starting at 8pm

2 hour estimate

Departs from town hall

Visit the turnbill mansion and,

Wamapoke hunting and burial grounds

Ends at the historic Pier Pub

Extracting the important details is an excellent way to capture a short attention span and engage your the customer to read further. This is also a great place to include extra details you may not want in your descriptions such as skill level (if you’re an adventure or nature tour), recommend equipment, or additional options / up-sells.

Use Photo Examples in Your Tour Descriptions

The human brain processes images 60 times faster than words. Back up your amazing tour descriptions with photos (and video!). Because your product is intangible, photos will support your claims and entice the customer to want to experience what they see. Content with images gets 94% more views.

Using photos gives your target customers an understanding of what they will experience, and will go a long way in driving more bookings.

Conclusion

Take the time to write your tour descriptions; it will pay off in the end. There is nothing less engaging than providing minimal details of your tours, or using a “copy / paste” generic description across all your tour descriptions. If you’re still unsure of how to start or what will work best for you, be fearless and try a few variations. Ask friends who know only a little about your tours for feedback to see which style entices them most to try one of your tours.